Years before the Shrine of St. Joseph in St. Louis became a “shrine,” when it was first the parish of St. Joseph Church, it became renowned for two miracles. The first was a Vatican-approved miracle for the canonization of St. Peter Claver.
The day was March 16, 1864.
Ignatius Strecker, a German immigrant and father of nine, literally dragged himself into the church. Months earlier, after being injured at work, his physical condition began to deteriorate severely, he developed tuberculosis, and the best doctors diagnosed him as incurable, giving him only weeks to live.
At the time, Father Francis Xavier Weninger, a renowned Jesuit missionary, was giving a mission at the church. Strecker’s wife heard the priest preach about Blessed Peter Claver, another Jesuit missionary. She hurried home and begged her dying husband to ask for Peter Claver’s intercession to recover. Somehow he mustered the strength to visit the church the next day — just as Father Weninger was going to bless the people with a relic of Peter Claver. When the missionary saw how sick Strecker was, he had him kiss the relic. At once the dying man felt his strength return.
Within a few days his incurable wounds were completely healed, his tuberculosis disappeared, and he was able to go back to work. The Vatican authenticated the miracle and used it as one of two for St. Peter Claver’s canonization.
“After that miracle the Jesuits decided to enlarge the church, and that’s virtually what you see today,” said Howard Matthews, a longtime member of the Friends of the Shrine of St. Joseph as well as a shrine tour guide.
While the addition was being built in 1866, St. Louis suffered from the outbreak of a cholera epidemic. This is when the second miracle happened. An average of 280 people died each day as the epidemic raged. At St. Joseph Church, the Jesuit priests and brothers worked tirelessly to help parishioners as well as other victims. From 10 to 25 funerals were held each day.
More Prayers Answered
Then, one Sunday summer morning, Father Joseph Weber, the pastor, encouraged the parishioners to make a solemn vow to God that if, through St. Joseph’s intercession, “we can be spared of any more cholera deaths, we will build a fitting monument to St. Joseph,” Matthews explained. The pastor asked each individual to sign the vow and to make a monetary pledge to underwrite the monument for whatever amount they could give. The poor congregation pledged an astounding $4,000 (equivalent to about $125,000 today), according to the church’s archives.
Everyone quickly called what happened next the second miracle. Matthews explained what transpired: “From that Sunday, every single person and their family was spared of the cholera death. With that, the parish decided to build the massive altar, 60 feet high” to honor St. Joseph. The altar was put in place that same year and is the same altar prayed before by famed Jesuit missionary Father Pierre De Smet, who, on Dec. 30, 1866, officiated at the dedication.
From that time to today it is known as “The Altar of Answered Prayers” because of St. Joseph’s intercession in that cholera epidemic. The very ornate altar, resplendent with various repeating decorative designs, moldings and dentils throughout its different tiers, was carved in Chicago to resemble one in the Jesuits’ Church of the Gesu in Rome.
Marbleized Corinthian columns topped with gold frame the three arched shrines in the middle tier. In the center shrine, standing under an arch and a dome of golden seashell, is a statue of St. Joseph with Jesus, pictured as a young boy of about 10.